The standard growing season for avacados in Florida is from mid-summer through mid-winter. Following the harvesting of avocados in January and February, fresh avocado fruit is scarce and must be imported from other growing areas. However, the popularity of avocados is constant throughout the year, and there is a demand for avocados during the months in which Florida avocados are generally not available. The variety of avocado described and claimed herein matures in March, when there are no other Florida varieties in production. This avocado is noteworthy because of the lateness of the maturity of the fruit.
All color descriptions employ the Munsell Color Charts for Plant Tissues, Macbeth Division of Kollmorgen Instruments Corp., 405 Little Britain Rd., New Windsor, N.Y. 12553. The complete Munsell notation for any chromatic color is written: Hue (Value/Chroma).
The name of this new and distinct variety of avocado plant is xe2x80x98Alpha Kromexe2x80x99 Avocado tree. The botanical name of the observed plant is Persea americana Miller.
This tree was first observed in a thirty acre avocado grove located at 10695 S.W. 207th Avenue, in Homestead, Fla. in March 1999. The tree is estimated to be between 25 and 30 years of age, and is growing in an avocado field that has been in production since 1956. It was noted that the tree had fruit on it at a time when other avocado varieties were bare of fruit. The parentage of this variety is unknown, but it differs from similar varieties of avocado because of the lateness of the maturity of the fruit. Two hundred fifty cuttings were taken from the instant tree and grafted on to seedling rootstock in the late spring, 2000.
The new avocado variety seems to express more resistance than other late varieties do to Cercospora purpruea and Colletotrichum gloeosporoides pathogens. This variety""s tolerance to drought or frost is not known. The fruit is sensitive to chilling injury in storage and should be stored at or above 52 degrees F. At this time, it is not possible to adequately describe plant vigor except to state that the vigor of this tree is similar in height, spread and growth habit with other avocado trees of similar age in the grove in which it is located.